Raising kids is hard, but not raising them right is harder. You need to make things as easy as possible on yourself. If you establish basic health practices when your kids are small, it’ll be easier for them when they get older. Consider these tips for raising your children to be healthy and happy teens and adults.
Focus
In life, you need focus. Otherwise, you end up wasting a lot of time. Time might be of essence to little ones. In fact, time seems to go by incredibly slow when you’re little. However, if you teach your kids to focus, have an assigned time for certain tasks and have fun with them once the work is done, they’ll develop these habits for a lifetime. This will pay off during their teen and adult years.
Eating Right
Eating habits need to be established while children are small because it’s easier to get them acquired to certain foods at this time. Adults can too, but their bodies need a few weeks to get adjusted. Your body will crave a lot of sugar if you regularly eat it. If you prevent your kids from having excessive sugar when they’re small, they won’t have a voracious appetite for it as they grow.
Mental Health
Mental health doesn’t solely deal with the mind. It deals with emotions, self-esteem, self-awareness and more. Teaching kids to be mentally healthy sets them up for success in the world. Things happen in life. There’s divorce, death, job loss, moving, natural disasters, poverty and other happenings that can cause an emotionally unhealthy person. Even in these circumstances, people can grow and overcome these obstacles because people are resilient. A troubled teen is born out of trauma or an imbalance of some kind. Not only can they overcome their problem, but it can serve to make them all the better as an adult.
Goals
Establishing goals helps your child to become more confident. Start out with small goals. When they achieve these goals, celebrate them. This can come in the form of a “Good job!” or “Let’s watch your favorite TV show.” It’s not as though life will always reward you for your achievements, but achievements, alone, can be reward enough. However, you want to encourage your kids when they’re little and rewards help that. As they achieve more, try more challenging goals. Setting up goals and knocking them out will give your kids confidence to succeed.
Cleaning Habits
Kids can take forever to clean if you let them. It’s not their fault. Their brains are not yet fully formed. It takes a lot of practice and time before people start making good decisions on their own. This means that you want to make cleaning up as easy as possible, and you want to show your kids the benefits of cleaning up messes. Cleaning up messes right away can avoid harder work down the road. It gives kids a sense of accomplishment, which is a good goal to have. To keep cleaning simple, organize their room in such a way that putting things away is easy. Have a place for each item. Keep large storage bins for certain types of toys. When they’re done with a bin, they can put everything back into that bin. Sing songs about cleaning up to make it more enjoyable.
Hygiene
Hygiene is important. It’ll be even more important when your children become teenagers and start having more sebum and body odor. Nighttime bathing can be established when your children are babies. Introduce bath toys and songs to making bathing fun. You can get special soap and shampoo that smell good to please the senses. One of the best ways to get children to brush their teeth is if you brush your teeth with them. The more family members you can get involved the better. Kids love mimicking other family members and feeling like they belong. Kids who are taught hygiene practices at a young age take these habits well into adulthood.
Kids are wonderful, and they are a joy to have. Make it easier on yourself and your kids with good habits at an early age. Don’t worry if you’re starting later too. It’s better late than never. We’re all still learning!
Image by U.S. Department of Agriculture
